Ben Bergeron is a professional fitness coach. A former Ironman triathlete, he coached both Katrin Davidsdottir and Mat Fraser to their first Games titles.
Ben is considered one of the top coaches in CrossFit and is probably the most sought after. He is also a best-selling author and the owner of CrossFit New England.
In his podcast, Chasing Excellence, Ben shares his beliefs of what it means to live a life of excellence, both inside the gym and out. All information for this article was taken from Episode 60: Building Stronger Nutritional Strategies.
Katrin Davidsdottir
Here are the 8 nutritional strategies you should add to your daily life to become the athlete you want to be and eliminate bad or restraining habits.
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Care about what you eat
There’s a difference between not knowing what good nutrition is and not caring.
When it comes to nutrition, do you know what you’re eating; what food is good, what your intake loads should be, if you’re hitting the right amount of micro and macro nutrients? There’s a lot of information out there – does a good nutritional strategy just require you to gain more knowledge?
The first step comes from informing yourself on what’s good for your nutrition and what harms you.
Simple but effective
Be mindful and aware of what you eat and, most of all, care about it.
Once you have that knowledge, act on it. There are people who know all about nutrition yet will still have a slice of cake every two days. That’s far from setting yourself up for success.
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Change your environment
A great nutritional strategy is to set yourself up so you don’t have to use all your willpower when the environment you’re in tempts you.
There are so many other situations where your willpower would be a lot more beneficial to you than spending it all trying not to eat “that biscuit”.
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Create a new environment for yourself and get rid of the bad habits. When grocery shopping, avoid the junk food isles and don’t bring that kind of “food” into your home.
Most people have a cupboard full of biscuits and sweets at home, ready to be eaten whenever, but when it comes to a healthy option there’s only a piece of chicken in the fridge that would take half an hour to cook. It’s understandable we go for the easy option.
Yet, if you didn’t have that cupboard, if the junk food wasn’t even in your house, it’d be a lot harder to have it, as it’s not that easily accessible.
Make healthy choices easier and bad ones harder.
A change of environment is the best think you can do to prompt yourself into eating healthy.
If the junk food is not at home, you’re not going to have it – get rid of the bad.
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Make bad habits harder
Make them impossible. When you have a huge craving and it’s 10:30 at night, if you don’t have accessibility to that thing you’re craving, you won’t get the junk.
Cravings won’t last for ever. Eliminate the opportunity to make them happen.
If you add a hurdle into your bad habit, you’re less likely to do it. Eliminate the accessibility or set yourself a challenge like going up and down the stairs before eating a dessert or crisps; you’ll notice you’re less likely to do it because things are not just there.
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Buy real food and always have it available
Stay within the fruit and veg isles when you go shopping, maybe go into the dairy for some eggs, skip the bakery.
If you can’t cook or don’t have time, buy pre-sliced vegetables. They’re slightly more expensive but will make a healthy eating choice easier by eliminating the step of having to chop things before you eat them. That detail that might seem insignificant, but this nutritional strategy makes a difference.
Pumpkin curry with chick-peas
Eliminate the hurdles. Make the good choices convenient and as easy as possible.
The good choices should be the easiest decisions and the bad ones the hardest.
Research into meal prep companies; there are meals out there that come totally cooked and are healthy.
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Cook more than you think you’ll need
Before you even put in on a plate, put half the food you’ve cooked in a Tupperware for the day after. Always have good food accessible and ready to go.
Having that extra portion available will mean that it becomes the easiest option, in consequence also turning into the most obvious one.
When it comes to nutritional strategies, convenient options matter a lot, so make your healthy options the most convenient ones.
Healthy Homemade Oatmeal with Berries for Breakfast
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Look out for the cues and pay attention to your habits
For example at the office, people get hungry two hours after lunch and therefore go ahead and snack. Be aware of when you get that cue and change the habit that follows.
When you have figured out what the cues are, why exactly you’re doing something, you can work on changing it. Maybe you were just bored or needed to stand up, change your scenario for a second instead of going straight for the chocolate.
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Bring lunch to the office and always have a healthy snack. Prepare and over-prepare. Don’t only bring lunch but also a good snack, and then another.
Understand what bad habits you’ve gotten into that are not going to get you where you want to be.
Control your environment, don’t be a slave of it
Do something good before you do something bad. Do some sort of exercise before you succumb to the temptation of eating unhealthily. Chances are you’re not going to eat what you were intending to afterwards, just because you’ve done something good and now that’s what you relate to.
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Be social and enjoy yourself when going out to eat, but also be mindful
Don’t be afraid to go out if you want to eat clean. Be social and enjoy yourself.
It is easy to go to a restaurant and order a double portion of veggies instead of the option of food you’re not so keen on eating.
Skip appetisers, you really don’t need them. There’s nothing wrong about waiting for your food. Refuse the bread when it comes instead of letting it sit on the table, chances are you’ll grab a nibble.
Don’t look at the dessert menu and, if everyone else you’re with is having one, ask for some fresh berries instead.
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Be ready to be different
Ask yourself, how important are your goals to you? Your answer should determine your actions and the environment you put yourself in. Find relationships that align with your goals and cut the ropes with those who stagnate or hamper you.
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Have the self-confidence to do things different, to be the person that brings an apple or a pear to a birthday party and has that instead of cake. Realise that you’re not the odd one out but the example to follow.
